The Home Gym
It is a rough day when you wake up and realise you have been fat for 20 years. I used to be skinny. There was a short time when I was fit -- not only fit, but strong. And then ... And now ...
Ah, it all disappeared.
I know what happened, of course. I got a full-time job. I flew around the country every week. I ate half my meals in restaurants. I had Dunkin' donuts for breakfast. I drank too much booze. I let in too much stress. All this in 11 months. My weight ballooned and it never left.
Worse than the diet was the lack of exercise. My eldest weighs about 30kg. That's pretty much what I need to lose to get back in shape. I know how hard it is carrying them around the zoo, and yet I am carrying that extra weight with every step. It is horrific.
I have joined a gym previously, and that helped, but I don't have the time anymore. My partner has joined a different gym. It is a bit farther away, but also cheaper.
But to get changed into workout clothes (or, sometimes, into clothes at all) and jump in a car and all that jazz ... I just don't think I'm going to do it.
But what about a home gym?
I have always wanted one. The idea started about six months ago: there was an abandoned weight bench under my house. It was caked in dirt. Just trash. And it was hard rubbish time, so I pulled it out from under the house.
It looked in better condition than I thought. I gave it a hose to get rid of the mud and dirt and was pleasantly surprised. Don't get me wrong: it is still a bit gross, but not so gross that I couldn't use it.
I put it in my shed and retrieved my old dumbbells and then promptly forgot about it.
Six months later I had a gift certificate for the local hardware store and I thought "Pulleys" ... So I spent $70 on pulleys, carabiners, and paracord.
The results were better than I had any right to expect.
I set up a pulley system within an hour, with two pulleys -- one above, one at waist height -- and paracord connected to a single dumbbell. It worked fine but had a squeak. A bit of oil and the squeak went, but it made quite a racket when the dumbbell hit the metal wall of the shed.
I cut up an old yoga mat and used more paracord to create a cushion. That got rid of the noise. I used some more carabiners on the paracord to split the rope so I could do a proper middle row. The weight bench was the right height, just need to drag it around.
And now it is done.
The gym my partner goes to costs $16.95 a week. So if I use my gym for 5 weeks, I am already in front. So far it has been a week and I have had exactly 0 opportunities to get to a gym but about 4 opportunities to use/improve my home gym. Every muscle is sore, in a good way. I haven't even figured out all the kinks and I am working out by accident.
And if I keep using it, I can spend $16.95 a week to improve it.
First will be more weight. I have enough plates for arm stuff but the back and the chest need a bit more oomph.
Second will be attachments. I am currently using a bar from an old bassinet as a lateral bar. It won't hold for long. I am using TRX straps for everything else.
Third will probably depends on how much I am using the space. It is covered in dirt and cobwebs. I can only access the shed by squeezing through the sides between the shed and the retaining wall. So do I spend money cleaning it up, making it 'fancy', or spend money on making it even better?
I won't know until I get to it.
But at least I am enjoying exercise again.